This Small Life

I had just turned off the interstate on my way home from Pete's gymnastics class.  To the left I saw a huddle of small children lunging their bodies against the back of a minivan that seemed to be stuck in the muck.  I made a U-turn to see if I could help them.

Paul recently pulled someone out (our neighbor who gets restuck every day) and he told me the tow cable was in the back.  I have never used a tow cable, nor retrieved a minivan from a month's worth of snow and ice melt.  But these small kids were getting no where.

It turns out that it was a mom and her brood and they were indeed quite stuck.  And, her husband is out of town for the week.  I begin to feel like a hero, and I haven't even pulled out the tow rope yet.

She suggested I get in the driver's seat while she helped her kids (there were so many of them, but they were very small) push.  And that did it.  Hooray!  Off to Boy Scouts they went.

My reward for such heroism?  I got to meet that town's police officer just a few moments later.  He was, um, waiting just around the bend, tucked in by the cemetery.  His red and blue flashing lights were not whirling in my rear view mirror in celebration of my neighborliness, unfortunately.

Oh boy.

"What's the hurry?" he asked me.  And, "I need to see your license and registration."

Two boys in the backseat full of questions while the officer is back at his car:

"What's happening?"
"I was driving too fast."

"Why does he have a gun?"
"Put your seatbelt back on."
"But I can't see him with it on."

"He's coming back!"
"Why does he have a gun instead of a sword?"


"Alright," Mr. Officer says to me as he hands me my things.  "Slow down and get outta here."

"Thank you.  I apologize."


But what I wanted to say was,

"Did you know I just rescued a mother and her countless children who were stranded in the muck in this here town of yours?  I did.  On the other side of the cemetery from where you were hiding.   I am a hero.  You should give me a sticker version of your badge."


"And, um, thank you so much for not giving me a ticket, sir."